Data Protection

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department plans to put in place to protect personal data under the draft Communications Data Bill; and whether she proposes that the Government will be liable for any data stolen.

James Brokenshire: Communications data retained under the proposals in the draft Bill would be retained by the companies on whom a notice has been served by the Secretary of State. As is the case for data held by companies under existing legislation, retained data should be held in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and, therefore, companies would be responsible for protecting personal data from loss, theft or unauthorised disclosure. Any communications data acquired from communications service providers by public authorities is the responsibility of the public authority concerned and would also be subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act. Compliance with the Data Protection Act is overseen by the Information Commissioner. In particular, the commissioner would keep under review the security of communications data held by companies under the Bill and its destruction at the end of the retention period.
	Companies would also be required to ensure that data is held in a manner accredited to government information assurance standards, and is protected against accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental loss and unauthorised access or disclosure. These proposals would enable the Government to continue investing in the security of communications data, as they have previously.

Immigration: Married People

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of UK citizens who will marry abroad and re-enter the UK accompanied by non-EU spouses who have obtained the requisite marriage visa in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014.

Mark Harper: When the Government changed the immigration rules concerning migration by families in June 2012, it published an impact assessment. This estimates the numbers coming through the route in future compared with now, as a consequence of the policy changes. In summary it estimates a reduction in family route visa grants by between 13,700-18,500 visa grants per annum. This includes British citizens returning to the UK with a family. As the rules apply equally to partners of British citizens (and persons settled here) regardless of whether they marry in the UK or abroad, the impact assessment does not make a separate estimate of those who marry abroad.

Airports

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the level of runway capacity in (a) England and (b) the UK required to maintain connectivity with emerging markets; and whether the Government has any plans to extend capacity in the next (i) five, (ii) 10 or (iii) 15 years at any UK airport.

Simon Burns: The Department for Transport's latest estimates of airport capacity and air passenger demand forecasts were published in August last year in ‘UK Aviation Forecasts 2011’.
	The central forecasts indicate that, with no new runways, the three largest London airports will be at capacity by 2030. However, the forecasts do not provide an assessment of the level of runway capacity required to maintain connectivity with emerging markets.
	‘UK Aviation Forecasts 2011’ is available on the Department's website at the following address:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/uk-aviation-forecasts-2011

Roads: Accidents

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicle collisions were reported in the most recent five years for which figures are available; how many such collisions resulted in (a) death and (b) injury; and how many persons considered responsible for such collisions there were in each age group in each such year.

Stephen Hammond: Information collected by the Department on road accidents in Great Britain is limited to accidents reported to the police and where at least one person sustained an injury. Therefore, there is no information on the total number of vehicle collisions.
	The information requested on reported road collisions, in Great Britain, for the last five years for which data is available is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Number 
			  Collisions involving at least one fatality Only injured (1)  casualties 
			 2007 2,714 179,401 
			 2008 2,341 168,250 
			 2009 2,057 161,497 
			 2010 1,731 152,683 
			 2011 1,797 149,677 
			 (1) Injured includes all casualties who sustained either a serious or slight injury in a road accident. 
		
	
	Information on persons considered responsible for these reported collisions is not held by the Department. However, information is available on the number of reported personal injury road accidents involving a motor vehicle driver by age of the driver. This information is presented for each of the last five years for which data is available, in the following table:
	
		
			 Number 
			  Age of driver 
			  17 to  24 25 to  29 30 to  34 35 to  39 40 to  49 50 to  59 60 to  69 70+ 
			 2007 61,795 33,347 31,394 32,764 56,663 34,816 18,192 11,332 
			 2008 56,795 30,976 27,667 29,164 53,399 31,802 17,218 11,067 
			 2009 53,656 29,648 26,659 26,636 51,183 31,525 17,275 11,189 
			 2010 46,706 26,926 25,318 24,612 48,978 31,192 16,762 11,056 
			 2011 44,154 25,957 24,762 23,062 47,682 30,888 17,137 11,568

Matrimonial Causes Act 1973

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has any plans to reform the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 to provide for no fault divorce.

Helen Grant: The Government does not intend to amend the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 to change the grounds for divorce or the facts required to prove that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
	The Government intends to reduce the burden on the courts by providing for uncontested divorces to be dealt with administratively. Draft legislation on family justice, including provisions on divorce, was published on 3 September 2012.

Corporation Tax

Jo Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what effect changes to corporation tax have had on UK businesses.

David Gauke: The Government aims to create the most competitive tax regime in the G20. The main rate of corporate tax has been reduced from 28% in 2010 to 24% in April this year, and will then fall to 23% in April 2013 and 22% in April 2014.
	The OBR estimate that the additional 1% tax cut announced at Budget 2012 will
	“increase the level of business investment by 1 per cent over the forecast period”
	(EFO, p.46). This is equivalent to an increase in the total amount of business investment of £3.4 billion over the next five years.
	Reforms to the corporate tax regime have made the UK more competitive, stemming the flow of businesses leaving and encouraging companies to come back, or to move here for the first time.

Corporation Tax

Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in corporation tax on businesses.

David Gauke: The Government aims to create the most competitive tax regime in the G20. The main rate of corporate tax has been reduced from 28% in 2010 to 24% in April this year, and will then fall to 23% in April 2013 and 22% in April 2014.
	The OBR estimate that the additional 1 % tax cut announced at Budget 2012 will “increase the level of business investment by 1 per cent over the forecast period”. (EFO, p.46) This is equivalent to an increase in the total amount of business investment of £3.4 billion over the next five years.
	Reforms to the corporate tax regime have made the UK more competitive, stemming the flow of businesses leaving and encouraging companies to come back, or to move here for the first time.

Scotland

Margaret Curran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date he last had a bilateral meeting with the Secretary of State for Scotland; and what matters were discussed.

Danny Alexander: The Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Scotland, my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore), meet regularly to discuss a range of topics.

Tax Evasion

Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to tackle tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.

David Gauke: The Government has been robust in its response to tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance schemes, taking action to prevent, detect and tackle such behaviour. We have underlined our commitment to tackling non-compliance in those areas by investing over £900 million in HM Revenue and Customs over the spending review period. That will allow HM Revenue and Customs to better tackle evasion, criminal attacks, unpaid tax debt and avoidance and is on course to bring in around £7 billion in additional tax each year by 2014-15. HM Revenue and Customs' reinvestment in tackling criminals has resulted in 413 convictions, with over £1 billion in revenue and revenue loss prevented as a result of its investigations. We are also soon to introduce the UK's first ever General Anti-Abuse Rule, to tackle artificial and abusive avoidance schemes, and are consulting on ways to strengthen our avoidance disclosure regime and associated publicity, including improving the information available to taxpayers on avoidance.

Working Tax Credit

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the potential effect on Scotland of reductions in the child care component of working tax credit.

Michael Moore: The budget deficit we inherited from the previous Government has meant we have had to make some very difficult choices. The Government has been clear that it sees reducing Britain's deficit as its most urgent task, in order to put the public finances on a stable footing. Despite this reduction, the child care element provides important support and will continue to make child care more affordable for working parents.

Charity Commission

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many recent candidates for the position of Chair of the Charity Commission were interviewed by or met (a) the Minister for the Cabinet Office and (b) other Ministers; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The selection panel considered 26 applications and selected for interview the five candidates they consider best met the criteria. Three candidates were deemed appointable to the post and the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), met with all three candidates.

Higher Education

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has for participation in higher education.

David Willetts: We expect there to be more full-time students studying in Higher Education this year than in any year under the last Government.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have received youth contract wage subsidies since the launch of that scheme.

Mark Hoban: The Youth Contract, including wage incentives, went live on April 2012. From this point any young person attached to the Work programme could be placed into work with a wage incentive being offered to the employer. In most cases wage incentives are paid after a young person has been in work continuously for 26 weeks.
	Following the collection and quality assurance of this data, I expect the first set of Official Statistics on the wage incentive to be available from early 2013. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.

Legionnaires' Disease: Edinburgh

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the Health and Safety Executive in Scotland to publish the results of their investigation into the outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Edinburgh in May 2012.

Mark Hoban: The investigation into the deaths from Legionnaires' disease in Edinburgh is being jointly investigated by Lothian and Borders police and the Health and Safety Executive under the direction of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The results cannot be published until the criminal investigation has been concluded and the matter has been reported to COPFS.

State Retirement Pensions

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consideration he has given to ensuring that all state pensions are paid from the date of the qualifying birthday rather than from a day within the week of the qualifying birthday.

Steve Webb: State pension is payable in whole weeks and not individual days, so payments start from the first full benefit week that follows the date a person reaches state pension age. If a person's birthday happens to fall on the same day of the week as the first day of their benefit week, there is no gap between that birthday and the first day for which payment is due. For most other people, there will be.
	There are administrative costs associated with making part-week payments and it is important that we continue to deliver the Department's service as cost-effectively as possible. If we made part-week payments at the commencement of a claim then logically we should seek to recover any days' overpayment at the end and this would add to the Department's administrative costs.
	The Government has no plans to change this arrangement at the present time.

Universal Credit

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made an assessment of the potential effects of introducing universal credit on the network of women's refuges; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The Government is committed to tackling domestic violence and to providing better support for victims. It is our intention that universal credit will not cause a reduction in support levels for victims of domestic violence.
	The housing benefit rules that currently apply for those living in refuges and other supported housing are complex to administer and understand. We do not intend to reduce the overall level of support that the sector currently receives from housing benefit but we do intend to simplify and streamline the current arrangements.
	We have conducted a consultation on proposals to redesign and simplify these arrangements and we received a substantial number of often comprehensive replies. We are continuing to develop plans for new funding arrangements under universal credit and we expect to announce further information in due course.

Energy: Prices

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to protect vulnerable customers from rising energy bills.

Gregory Barker: The coalition Government is committed to supporting low income and vulnerable consumers to heat their homes at an affordable cost.
	We continue to fund the Warm Front scheme, providing low income vulnerable households, living in energy inefficient properties, with a range of energy efficient heating and insulation measures. Since the start of the scheme in June 2000 the scheme has assisted 2.3 million households across England.
	The Community Energy Saving Programme is targeted at the 15% lowest income areas in Scotland and Wales and lowest 10% in England. It is designed to deliver comprehensive energy efficiency retrofits on a street by street basis with expected permanent fuel bill savings of up to £300 a year per household.
	Under the Super Priority Group of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target some 600,000 low income households across Great Britain are expected to receive heating and insulation measures, either for free or at a subsidised price.
	We recently published the consultation response regarding the new Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO), which will be our flagship policy for improving the energy efficiency of the nation's housing stock. ECO will run alongside the Green Deal and will have twin objectives to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty. ECO requires energy suppliers to help households access more expensive insulation measures such as solid wall and hard to treat cavity wall insulation through the Green Deal and to provide measures to low income and vulnerable households to help reduce the costs of staying warm and healthy. Through ECO around £540 million will be spent annually by suppliers to assist low income households and low income areas.
	In addition to energy efficiency measures, in 2011-12 the Warm Home Discount scheme provided energy supplier funded discounts to around 700,000 of the poorest pensioners across Great Britain with a core group discount of £120 off electricity bills. Nearly 600,000 of these customers received the discount without having to claim, as a result of data matching between Government and energy suppliers. This is a significant benefit for a group which may struggle to claim. Other low income vulnerable households may also be assisted through the scheme. Overall we expect 2 million low income vulnerable households a year to be assisted through the Warm Home Discount scheme.
	Government provides pensioner households with winter fuel payments to help with additional heating costs during the winter. Cold weather payments are also made to low income and vulnerable households where there is an average temperature of 0° C or below for seven consecutive days. These payments have been permanently increased to £25 per week and in winter 2011-12 over 5 million cold weather payments were paid in Great Britain worth an estimated £129 million.
	In addition, Big Energy Saving Week, brokered by Government and led by Citizens Advice, aims to connect consumers, particularly the vulnerable, with sources of help with their energy bills. Big Energy Saving Week is week beginning 22 October 2012.

Fuel Poverty: Glasgow

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of fuel poverty in Glasgow North West constituency.

Gregory Barker: The coalition Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and supporting low income and vulnerable consumers to heat their homes at an affordable cost. Fuel poverty is a devolved issue for the Scottish Government, but the following polices span Great Britain.
	In winter 2011-12, the Warm Home Discount Scheme provided energy supplier funded discounts to around 700,000 of the poorest pensioners across Great Britain with a Core Group discount of £120 off electricity bills. Nearly 600,000 of these customers received the discount without having to claim, as a result of data matching between Government and energy suppliers. This is a significant benefit for a group which may struggle to claim. Other low income vulnerable households may also be assisted through the scheme. Overall we expect 2 million low income vulnerable households a year to be assisted through the Warm Home Discount scheme.
	We recently published the consultation response regarding the new Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO), which will be our flagship policy for improving the energy efficiency of the nation's housing stock. ECO will run alongside the Green Deal and will have twin objectives to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty. ECO requires energy suppliers to help households access more expensive insulation measures such as solid wall and hard to treat cavity wall insulation through the Green Deal and to provide measures to low income and vulnerable households to help reduce the costs of staying warm and healthy. Through ECO around £540 million will be spent annually by suppliers to assist low income households and low income areas.
	The Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) is targeted at the 15% lowest income areas in Scotland and Wales (10% in England). It is designed to deliver comprehensive energy efficiency retrofits and a street by street basis with expected permanent fuel bill savings of up to £300 a year per household. 36 CESP schemes in Glasgow had been submitted to Ofgem for approval by June 2012.
	Under the Super Priority Group of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target some 600,000 low income households across Great Britain are expected to receive heating and insulation measures, either for free or at a subsidised price.
	In addition, Government provides pensioner households with winter fuel payments to help with additional heating costs during the winter. Cold weather payments are also made to low income and vulnerable households where there is an average temperature of 0° C or below for seven consecutive days. These payments have been permanently increased to £25 per week and in winter 2011-12 over 5 million cold weather payments were paid in Great Britain worth an estimated £129 million.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to his statement of 24 May 2012, Official Report, columns 1303-7, on the feed-in tariffs scheme, if he will make it his policy to include hydro power in the updated renewable energy roadmap.

Gregory Barker: Hydro power will be included in the updated Renewable Energy Roadmap.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to his statement of 24 May 2012, Official Report, columns 1303-7, on the feed-in tariffs scheme, when he expects the renewable energy roadmap to be updated.

Gregory Barker: We plan to publish the next update of the Renewables Roadmap during the autumn.

Warm Front Scheme

Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding his Department allocated to the Warm Front scheme in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; what the actual level of expenditure was in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; what steps he is taking to ensure allocated funding is spent in 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The total budget for the Warm Front scheme in 2010-11 and 2011-12 was as £366 million and £145 million(1) respectively. The total budget of £366 million was spent in 2010-11. Total expenditure for 2011-12 was £108.6 million(2).
	Warm Front remains open to applications with a budget of £100 million in 2012-13 to provide insulation and heating measures to qualifying households.
	Government is committed to doing all it can to drive up demand for the scheme and continues to work closely with local authorities, charities and the energy companies to encourage pensioners and those on low incomes apply for the help to which they are entitled.
	The Government has recently taken steps to broaden the eligibility criteria for the scheme to align the income-based qualifying benefits with those to be utilised for the forthcoming Affordable Warmth group of the Energy Company Obligation. The qualifying SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) threshold for the property will also be increased from 55 to 63. These changes will come into force on 12 September 2012 from which time applications will be assessed against the revised criteria allowing an even greater number of households to benefit.
	(1) The total budget of £145 million consists of £110 million allocated to Warm Front and associated activities secured through the spending review 2010. In addition DECC allocated £25 million to support the completion of outstanding work from 2010-11 with a further £10 million allocated to Warm Front in 2011-12 from the Department of Health.
	(2) The original budget for Warm Front and associated fuel poverty expenditure for 2011-12 was £110 million. During 2011-12 total expenditure was almost £108 million with a further £0.6 million committed but not yet paid. Therefore, of the original Warm Front budget £1.4 million was unspent. The budget was increased by £35 million during the year. We also received agreed rebates from Carillion Energy Services of nearly £14 million. These rebates were used to offset expenditure in 2011-12 bringing total reported expenditure for the year to £94.4 million. Against the total budget of £145 million for 2011-12, £50.6 million was unspent.

Wind Power

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of wind turbines which will come into operation in each (a) year until 2020 and (b) month during the next two years.

Gregory Barker: holding answer 5 September 2012
	No assessment has been made of the number of wind turbines that will come into operation each month during the next two years and each year until 2020.
	However, within the Renewable Energy Roadmap
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/meeting-energy-demand/renewable-energy/2167-uk-renewable-energy-roadmap.pdf
	published July 2011, the central scenario shows generating capacity of up to 13 GW of onshore wind and up to 18 GW of offshore wind by 2020.
	Details of wind farms, both onshore and offshore, that are currently within the planning system can be found within the Renewables Energy Planning database (REPD) monthly extract
	https://restats.decc.gov.uk/app/reporting/decc/monthlyextract
	Estimates based on this information are likely to fluctuate because not all projects in the planning system may receive consent, not all projects consented may follow through to construction and as new projects are introduced. The following table shows the breakdown of wind turbine numbers and capacity for May 2012.
	
		
			    Planning applications—number of turbines 
			 Wind technology Source Number of operational turbines Submitted Awaiting construction Under construction 
			 Wind offshore REPD 568 1,072 323 863 
			 Wind onshore REPD 3,311 2,809 1,819 925 
			  RESTATS 318 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Total  4,197 3,881 2,142 1,788

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 12 July 2012, Official Report, columns 436-7, on renewable energy, how his agreement with the offshore wind industry will work to ensure that 50 per cent of the supply chain involves UK companies; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Government welcomes the recent announcement by the Offshore Wind Developers Forum (OWDF), which stated its vision for “the UK to be the centre of offshore wind technology and deployment, with a competitive supply chain in the UK, providing over 50% of the content of offshore wind farm projects”.
	The Government will work with developers to understand how this will be achieved including to develop a methodology for reporting the level of UK content in future offshore projects to measure how developers are delivering against the vision.

Iran

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what recent reports he has received on access to education by Baha'i students in Iran; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent reports he has received of raids and arrests on businesses run by Baha'i in Iran; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is aware of an apparent increase in harassment of Baha'is, particularly in Semnan, Iran, including the closure of businesses run by Baha'is and restricted access to education by Baha'i students. We continue to monitor Baha'i persecution in Iran and to condemn publicly the appalling treatment of this minority group. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), made a statement on 24 August condemning the harassment of Baha'is and other minority groups in Iran. We continue to call for Iran to respect the rights and freedoms of the Baha'i community and other minority groups and immediately to cease persecution of them.

Middle East

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had discussions with his counterpart in the Israeli government on that government's response to the requirement in UNSC Resolution 1860 that it should reopen crossing points to Gaza.

Alistair Burt: In close co-ordination with our EU partners, we continue to press the Israeli Government to ease access restrictions on Gaza. As I saw when I visited in July 2011 the Israeli restrictions on movements of goods and people do tremendous damage to the economy and living standards of ordinary people in Gaza. The current situation fosters radicalisation and empowers Hamas, while punishing the ordinary people of Gaza. An improved economy is not only essential for the people of Gaza, but firmly in Israel's security interests.

Russia

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Russian authorities on the House of Commons resolution of 7 March 2012 on Sergei Magnitsky.

David Lidington: We have concerns about the Magnitsky case and continue to make those concerns clear to Russia at the highest levels, noting the strong parliamentary and media interest in the case.
	In a meeting with the Russian ambassador on 3 September, I raised the continuing lack of progress in the investigation into Magnitsky's death and urged the Russian authorities to press forward with their investigation, and hold those responsible to account. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised the lack of progress in bringing those responsible to justice with Foreign Minister Lavrov when he visited Moscow at the end of May. The Prime Minister raised our concerns about the human rights situation in Russia with President Putin when they met in Downing street in August.

Russia

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings and correspondence his Department has had with the Home Department in connection with the death of Sergei Magnitsky in 2012 to date.

David Lidington: Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials consulted Home Office officials this year as part of preparations for parliamentary debates which called for visa bans on those allegedly involved in Magnitsky's death. There has also been routine contact with the Home Office over correspondence and parliamentary questions relating to proposed visa bans over the Magnitsky case. During the backbench debate on human rights and the death of Sergei Magnitsky on 7 March, the Government set out that foreign nationals from outside the European economic area (EEA) may only come to the UK if they satisfy the requirements of the immigration rules. Where there is independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the individual will not normally be permitted to enter the UK. The UK remains seriously concerned about the lack of progress in the investigation into Sergei Magnitsky's death, and has set out these concerns to the Russian authorities at the highest levels.

Syria

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the situation in Syria; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: I refer my hon. Friend to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), to the House on 3 September 2011, Official Report, columns 59-68.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received on the proposed imposition of value added tax in the Turks and Caicos Islands; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Simmonds: During the visit of the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham), to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in June this year, the implementation of VAT was raised with him. It was also a topic for discussion during the recent visit to London by the leader of the Progressive National Party, Dr Ewing. We received copies of letters sent to the TCI Government on this subject, together with correspondence from members of the public.
	The British Government has consistently made it clear that the introduction of VAT is a decision for the TCI Government. We support their decision to introduce VAT on the basis of an assessment that it will provide a more stable, fairer and broader based system of revenue.
	The VAT Bill was signed into law by the Acting Governor on 18 July 2012.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements his Department made for monitoring the 9 November 2012 elections in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mark Simmonds: The Turks and Caicos Islands Government is inviting, with our financial support, observers for the forthcoming elections. They have agreed with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (UK) to organise an observer mission including UK and regional monitors.

Boxing

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much she plans to allocate to boxing in 2013.

Hugh Robertson: In the period 2009-13 the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) is receiving £4.5 million from Sport England to support grassroots sport. Sport England is currently assessing the plans put forward by the ABAE to maintain and increase grassroots participation in boxing over the period 2013-17. Its funding decisions will be made at the end of the year.
	The total UK Sport funding to support elite Boxing in 2013 will depend on the investment the sport receives for the 2013-17 Rio 2016 cycle which will begin 1 April 2013. Boxing's funding for the London 2012 cycle, which totals £9,551,400, will continue until 31 March 2013. Final decisions on funding the Rio 2016 cycle will be made in December.

Broadband

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of households in urban areas that receive broadband speeds of less than 2 mbps as a consequence of being connected to telephone exchanges that are more than five kilometres away from their home.

Edward Vaizey: The Statistical Digest of Rural England 2012 estimated, using modelled distance data, that 5% of households in urban areas in England had no or slow broadband in 2010:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2012/06/12/pb13782-stats-digest-rural-england ( page 71)
	Ofcom published data for the percentage of premises receiving less than 2 Mbit/s for individual local authorities in summer 2011:
	http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/broadband/

Apprentices

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many apprentices were employed by (a) his Department, (b) its principal contractors and (c) the NHS in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: The Department has employed three external apprentices over the past five years. They joined the Department in February 2010 and, on 3 January 2012, they became permanent members of staff, on completion of their apprenticeships.
	Of the Department's current principal contractors, EMCOR (the Department's facilities management provider) had one apprentice during both 2010 and 2011 but has none at present. The Department's catering provider Quadrant had one apprentice during 2010 but also has none currently. Information on apprenticeships with other current and previous contractors is not available.
	The national health service is now one of the largest public sector employers of apprenticeships and one of the top three employers of apprentices in the country. It has the biggest range (80 plus) of apprenticeship frameworks of any national employer. Over the last few years, the rapid expansion in apprenticeships across the wider economy has been mirrored in the NHS. This increase has been delivered through the Department's investment of £25 million in 2009-210 and a further £10 million in 2010-11. The numbers of NHS apprenticeships commissions were:
	2008-09: 1,300
	2009-10: 8,167
	2010-11: 9,547.
	Although there is no allocated central funding for this policy, strategic health authorities had 10,313 apprentices in training in 2011-12.
	Contained in these figures are the number of current NHS staff who have begun to undertake an apprenticeship programme as well as new start apprentices who are entering into employment within the NHS.

Care Quality Commission

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many hours were spent by staff in the Care Quality Commission on staff forum duties in the last year for which figures are available;
	(2)  what the cost to the public purse was of the provision of a staff forum in the Care Quality Commission in the last year for which figures are available.

Anna Soubry: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has informed the Department that, from October 2011 to September 2012, 478.50 hours were spent by staff on staff forum duties. Within the same period, management time spent on staff forum duties amounted to 147.50 hours.
	The staff cost of the forum from October 2011 to September 2012 is £9,827.15.
	The management cost of the staff forum from October 2011 to September 2012 is
	£5,595.57.

Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) diabetes and (b) the role of diabetic specialist nurses were discussed at the informal Health Council on 10-11 July 2012.

Norman Lamb: There was no discussion of diabetes or diabetic specialist nurses at the Informal Health Council of 10-11 July2012.

Heart Diseases and Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when he expects the NHS Commissioning Board to publish its recommendations on the future of cardiac and stroke networks;
	(2)  what steps he plans to take to ensure that the NHS Commissioning Board provides adequate funding and support for cardiac and stroke networks beyond 2013;
	(3)  whether the NHS Commissioning Board plans to establish existing cardiac and stroke networks as strategic clinical networks.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the NHS Commissioning Board Special Health Authority plans to publish its recommendations on the future of cardiac and stroke networks.

Anna Soubry: The NHS Commissioning Board Authority's plans to establish a small number of national strategic clinical networks to improve health services for specific patient groups or conditions were set out in “The Way Forward: Strategic clinical networks”, published on 26 July 2012. A copy of the document has been placed in the Library.
	Strategic clinical networks, hosted and funded by the NHS Commissioning Board, will cover patient groups or conditions where improvements can be made through an integrated, whole system approach. The networks will help local commissioners of national health service care to reduce unwarranted variation in services and encourage innovation.
	The conditions chosen for the first strategic clinical networks are:
	cancer;
	cardiovascular disease (including cardiac, stroke, diabetes and renal disease);
	maternity and children; and
	mental health, dementia and neurological conditions.
	The NHS Commissioning Board will determine levels of funding and the arrangements for supporting strategic clinical networks.

Mental Health Services: Telephone Services

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which NHS mental health services have introduced a telephone crisis service; and what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which unplanned emergency mental health hospital admissions can be avoided through the provision of such a service;
	(2)  if his Department will make an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of providing a telephone mental health crisis service as a means of avoiding emergency mental health admissions.

Norman Lamb: We do not collect these figures centrally. We have not assessed the effect telephone crisis services have on the amount of emergency hospital admissions, nor their cost-effectiveness.
	The purpose of Crisis Resolution Home Treatment services is to provide treatment to mentally ill patients in order to prevent hospital admission. The criteria for crisis teams is to be available to respond 24 hours, seven days a week. Teams work as part of a mental health system and should pick up all appropriate cases within the primary care trust. People known to services should be supplied with emergency access numbers to call in a crisis.

Organs: Donors

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England and Wales died in (i) 2005, (ii) 2007, (iii) 2009 and (iv) 2011 because an organ for transplant was not available; what steps he is taking to increase the levels of organ donation; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested on deaths on the organ transplant waiting list for 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011 is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Area 2005 2007 2009 2011 
			 Barnsley Central 2 0 0 0 
			 South Yorkshire 11 9 8 7 
			 England and Wales 438 471 491 440 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	The Government has supported a number of initiatives to encourage people to add their name to the organ donation register (ODR) or to agree donation. Much of this work is led by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in conjunction with a number of partners. For example, people may sign up to the ODR when they register with a new general practitioner, when applying for a new passport, when applying for a European Health Insurance Card and when applying for a Boots advantage card.
	We have also established a prompted choice scheme/ working in partnership with the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, which requires people applying for a driving licence on-line to answer a question about organ donation.
	There are now over 200 highly trained specialist nurses for organ donation based in hospitals across the country. Clinical leads for organ donation have also been appointed in every acute hospital working closely with hospital organ donation committees to increase donation rates.
	Due to the challenges of recruiting donors from some communities, we have also set up the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance to increase numbers of black, Asian and minority ethnic people on bone marrow and whole organ registers and who consent to donate. It attempts to do so by raising awareness of inequalities and promoting the importance of transplantation.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of spinal muscular atrophy were diagnosed in each region in each of the last five years; and how many people died from spinal muscular atrophy in each region in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The NHS Information Centre for health and social care collects information on the number of people diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) following an admission to hospital. This is collected by strategic health authority (SHA) region. The data available does not include the number of people diagnosed with a condition, only the number of hospital episodes where a diagnosis is recorded.
	
		
			 Count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy by SHA of residence for the years 2006-07 to 2010-11 
			 SHA name 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 North East Strategic Health Authority 384 486 500 520 569 
			 North West Strategic Health Authority 1,067 1/271 1,374 1,509 1,533 
			 Yorkshire And The Humber Strategic Health Authority' 850 777 877 873 866 
			 East Midlands Strategic Health Authority 742 678 678 841 782 
			 West Midlands Strategic Health Authority 697 666 647 832 984 
			 East Of England Strategic Health Authority 1,046 1,173 1,335 1,555 1,783 
			 London Strategic Health Authority 1,055 923 1,056 1,356 1,485 
			 South East Coast Strategic Health Authority 609 596 669 652 684 
			 South Central Strategic Health Authority 604 650 687 624 724 
			 South West Strategic Health Authority 819 896 1,062 1,084 1,133 
			 Notes: 1. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE)A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. 2. Number of episodes in which the patient had a (named) primary or secondary diagnosis The number of episodes where this diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once, even if the diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record. ICD-10 Code used: G12.—Spinal muscular atrophy and related syndromes. 3. SHA/PCT of residenceThe SHA or primary care trust (PCT) containing the patient's normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another SHA/PCT for treatment. 4. Assessing growth through timeHES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. 5. Activity includedActivity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. 6. Please note that these data should not be described as a count of people, as the same person may have been admitted on more than one occasion. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre. 
		
	
	Information on the number of deaths from SMA is not collected centrally by the Department. However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) does have data on the number of deaths arising from SMA and related syndromes in England and Wales during 2010. More information can be found at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/mortality-statistics--deaths-registered-in-england-and-wales--series-dr-/2010/dr-tables-2010.xls

Thalidomide

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what progress his Department has made in assessing the thalidomide grant pilot scheme;
	(2)  what recent assessment his Department has made of support from the NHS to Thalidomide survivors.

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the publication of “Looking to the Future, Evaluation of the Health Grant to Thalidomide Impaired People” in July 2012, what steps he is taking to provide financial assistance for Thalidomide survivors.

Norman Lamb: The Department provided £20 million over the three years 2010-11 to 2012-13 to the Thalidomide Trust to fund a pilot scheme in England to explore how the needs of Thalidomide survivors can best be met in the long term. The former Minister for Care Services my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow) met with the Thalidomide Trust and members of the National Advisory Council on 12 June 2012. At that meeting he committed to making and sharing a decision on future funding in the autumn, following a thorough assessment of the evaluation report into the second year of the grant. The Department received the report on 11 July and departmental officials are currently carrying out that assessment.

Urinary System: Infectious Diseases

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of urinary tract infections occurring in NHS hospitals.

Anna Soubry: The Government is encouraging health care organisations to focus on driving up quality, and reducing the harm from a number of common patient safety issues, including urinary tract infections, through the use of the NHS Safety Thermometer and incentive payments are provided if healthcare organisations collect and submit data using the NHS Safety Thermometer.
	The Government has also asked the Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections to consider further measures to improve infection prevention and control, in particular in relation to catheter use in intensive care units.